Seldom pure
I feel bereft. Here I am back from annual leave and the Glasgow East by-election is all but over.
Except of course for the small matter of the election itself. The opportunity for the people of the constituency to cast their vote.
Campaigning must be endlessly frustrating for politicians. On the streets and on the doorsteps, people display an exasperating desire to talk about their own concerns, the practical matters which afflict their lives.
By contrast, candidates would far rather talk about the issue which they regard as germane: that is, the fact that their opponent is the living embodiment of all evil.
On the scorching beaches of Crete, where I have been lounging, the Glasgow by-election was, of course, the permanent topic of discussion.
However, to fill in the few gaps which remained, I have trawled the internet: including catching up on televised debates.
Echo opinion
A few things occur. Just as in Dunfermline, it would appear that the physical state of the constituency is a relevant factor.
In the Fife contest, the candidates were only too keen to echo street opinion that the centre of Scotland's ancient capital was slumbering towards hideous decay.
By contrast, in Glasgow East, it has become fashionable to insist that the area has many good points and that those who would decry it are simply lackeys of the effete southern media.
Secondly, many of the issues which have been raised are, strictly speaking, not the provenance of this by-election. That is because this is a contest for a seat at Westminster, not Holyrood.
Whoever is elected, consequently, will not be dealing directly with devolved matters such as policing, crime, schooling and health.
The third factor helps explain why those issues have been so prominent, other than the tedium of basing a by-election purely upon reserved issues such as tax and benefits.
Practical result
That is because the people of Glasgow East are being invited to choose, at least in part, not just between candidates but between governments.
I suppose that is inevitable when the lead party, Labour, forms the UK Government and the closest chasing rival, the SNP, forms the Scottish Government.
To that extent, this is a referendum between Gordon Brown and Alex Salmond or, more precisely, that is how the outcome may be interpreted.
The purist in me would point out gently that the practical result of this contest will be no more than the return of a representative to Westminster.
However, politics is seldom pure and the Glasgow East verdict may well have considerably wider repercussions.
I'm 
Comments
or to comment.